Bitter wind chills forecast for weekend

All Together now... Three men work together to clear away the snow for a parking spot this morning in the 2600 block of West Chicago Avenue. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Now that the first major winter storm of the year is over, Chicagoans can brace for weekend cold.

Lows tonight will range from 2 to 6 above, with the exception of the downtown area where temperatures will be 9 to 13, according to the National Weather Service. Wind chill values will be as low as zero to 10 below.

Highs for Saturday will be 13 to 17, except near the lake where it will be around 20. But wind chill readings in the morning are predicted at zero to 10 below. Both actual temperatures and the wind chill will fall over the course of the day, with wind chills as low as 5 below to 15 below in the nighttime hours.

Sunday is predicted to be mostly sunny with highs in the lower 20s. But again, wind chills in the morning will be 5 below to 15 below.

The second day of the winter snowstorm proved less frightening than expected.

Lake-effect snow had moved through the immediate Chicago area into northwest Indiana by 7:30 a.m., and the winter storm warning that was to have expired at noon was canceled early.

Traffic moved fairly smoothly on most area expressways over the course of the morning rush. Metra and the CTA experienced minimal delays. Delays at the city's two airports were minor and while there were some flight cancellations, they were dwarfed by Thursday's more than 500.

"Due to deicing of aircraft, airlines at O'Hare International Airport are reporting minor delays for some flights, with more than 50 cancellations," according to a midmorning statement from the Chicago Department of Aviation. "At Midway [Airport], airlines are reporting no delays, and a few cancellations."

A number of school districts canceled classes for the day, perhaps more out of fear of what would be than what was.

As of 6:30 a.m., about 170 school districts and individual schools had decided not to open their doors today and about 80 were opening late. (Click here for the list of emergency school closings.)

In total, the snowstorm appeared to have dumped a little less snow across the area than had been forecast. Original predictions had called for 6 to 12 inches. But 4 to 8 was more likely, the weather service said this morning, although readings were higher in some places.

O'Hare recorded 8.2 inches of snow.

That total unofficially put Chicago at 29 inches for the winter. "Considering there are an average of 39 inches of snow in your typical Chicago winter, this winter is proving to be anything but typical," the city's Snow Command said.